


5.21.2145

by epochjeong (pinkwinwin)



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk, Future Fic, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Science Fiction, Strangers to Lovers, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:55:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24659485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkwinwin/pseuds/epochjeong
Summary: And how wonderful it is, Moonbin thinks, to give the universe to someone you love so fiercely.
Relationships: Moon Bin/Park Minhyuk | Rocky
Comments: 11
Kudos: 32
Collections: Astro FicFest 2020





	5.21.2145

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote and re-wrote this roughly three times and I'm still not 100% satisfied with this, but I do hope you enjoy! It was fun to take part in an Astro fic fest, so thank you to the mod who organized this!
> 
> _  
>  written for prompt #3  
>  _

_5.17.2144_

The artificial sunlight is warm as it seeps through the glass, coating the hardwood floors in golden daylight. Moonbin rises from his bed, lets his feet hit the floor. He's drawn to the window almost magnetically, watching the highway filled with shiny cars and flying vehicles passing his window every so often. Even with his sleep-blurry vision, he can see the subtle shimmer of the translucent dome across the horizon.

The world outside of it is too harsh for any human to survive, the weather Moonbin is exposed to now is merely a calculated replica created in a lab long before he was even born. 

The world inside is harsh as well, but perhaps in its own way. It is lonely, more solitude than Moonbin would like. Empty apartment, dead-end job, a lifetime’s worth of expectations on his shoulders. He groans at the thought, reaches up to rub the space behind his neck.

Maybe there’s something else out there for me, Moonbin thinks. Maybe there’s someone out there who brings warmth like the sun 

  
  
  
  


_5.21.2144_

The pavement smells of motor oil as Moonbin climbs out of the vehicle, the buildings glow a hazy lavender thanks to the neon sign the taxi is parked under. It’s the kind of thing that makes it feel like you’re stepping into another world, not quite real enough for your eyes to register. Myungjun slides out ahead of Moonbin, head held high like he’s trying to take in every sight at once.

“Isn’t it wonderful,” Myungjun says, turning on his heels and offering Moonbin a wide smile. Moonbin arches a brow in response. 

“You’re not afraid of anything, are you?”

  
  
A flash of a smile, a tilt a head. “Don’t be ridiculous.” 

The driver says something that Moonbin can’t quite make out, and Myungjun reaches out a decorated arm and hands him a wad of bills. His silver bracelets and chunky rings tint purple in the light, glinting dangerously as he waves the taxi away. It sputters off into nothing, into blackness, and for the first time Moonbin feels nerves creep up his spine. 

“Come on,” Myungjun clicks his tongue, looping a finger in one of Moonbin’s front belt loops and tugging him forward. He doesn’t look back to see his reaction, just gazes with bright eyes at the city around them. They’re at the end of a small corridor and as Moonbin is pulled forward, he sees the buildings around him come to life.

  
  
From the nothingness that resembles a ghost town into the vibrancy of something real, he sees people walking into restaurants and bars, arm in arm and leaning in to whisper secrets. There are people leaning out of windows, observing the streets below and hanging laundry to be dried. There is music playing from an open doorway, a melody that Moonbin is unfamiliar with.

The sky is black down here. No sun reaches this space, the rain never coats the sidewalks. You cannot even see the stars from this distance, just an expanse of nothing. The result is evident in the people who live here, pale eyes and no real sense of time. Yet, there is an entire way of life down here that Moonbin is completely unaware of.

  
  
People laugh and dance in the street. People revv up flying machines that sputter into the inky blackness of night. People live.

“This looks like the place,” Myungjun says, grabs hold of Moonbin’s arm instead. Pulls him inside a crowded bar where the overhead lighting glows blue and the drinks on the table are a reassuring clear. It is three where Moonbin can see the people here closer, pale eyes and clothing thin enough to just barely drape across their bodies. The air feels thicker here, hotter, like Moonbin is moving in slow motion surrounded by people who call this place home.

He doesn’t even pay attention to the drink Myungjun places into his hand, just takes a sip and tastes the citrus on the roof of his mouth. And then he turns when Myungjun pulls on his jacket sleeve, looks at the table he’s motioning to. Looks at the two men he’s being dragged over to, in the midst of conversation huddled over drinks.

Myungjun was never one for being shy, and his voice is cherry wine rich when he speaks. “Mind showing us a good time?”

  
  
And the men look up and they _look up_ and suddenly Moonbin wonders if the one with dark hair and eyes the color of polished platinum would taste like candied oranges and liquor if he kissed him. Chairs get pulled out, the man with silver hair leans in when Myungjun whispers in his ear. He has a tattoo the color of ice blue, snaking up his arm and looking like the circuit board if Moonbin split open a computer. The other one smiles, polite but looking like he’s holding back an amused laugh.

“You’re not from around here,” he says simply, and Moonbin blinks. It’s like the words don’t register yet, and he has to shake his head to process them. He tells him no, they’re just visiting, and the stranger really does laugh then.

“Why would you come here,” he mutters, downing his drink. Clear liquid, so pristine it almost sparkles, slips past peach-colored lips. Moonbin’s head is dizzy, like he’s trying to piece together the implication of the words and the beauty of the man in front of him. “Come with me.”

  
  
This, Moonbin understands. This he knows, as he follows the man to the wide window, pushed open and noisy from the outside world. He pulls a package of cigarettes from his back pocket and lights it, leaning against the window frame and watches people walk by. The smoke that filters out of his lips is green and when he offers it to Moonbin, he takes it without hesitance.

  
  
“So, what’s your name?” Moonbin asks, taking a drag. He tastes something herbal and sweet, his mind a hazy fog.

“Minhyuk,” he says, simply. Arms crossed over his chest, muscles flexing beneath the artificial light. The arrangement of silvery-blue numbers glow on his right arm, turned outwards towards the world. He doesn’t ask for Moonbin’s name.

  
  
He gives it anyway, passing back the cigarette in it’s wrapped black paper.

“And what are you doing down here, Moonbin?” Minhyuk asks. He sounds bored, but he looks at Moonbin with sparkling eyes. Curiosity lining the edges of his irises, the kind of thing Moonbin wants to challenge.

“I’m here,” Moonbin says, stepping closer. By the look Minhyuk gives him, it’s not unwelcome. “To do whatever you want.”

Minhyuk laughs then, genuinely with his lips pulled into a grin. His smile afterwards is warm, tapping the purple ashes just outside the windowsill. It takes him a minute to respond, looking up at the blacked sky before turning back to Moonbin.

  
  
“I want to see the stars.”

  
  
  
  
  
_11.13.2144_

He learns the numbers on Minhyuk’s arm are for his sister, her birthdate etched into his skin for a lifetime. It glows underneath the light when they lay in bed, months after their first meeting.

  
  
“She left,” Minhyuk tells him, voice small. “Up to where you are, thought there was a better life up there.”

  
  
And Moonbin thinks, wonders if it’s really true. There is sunlight and a million different individual lives happening at the same time, but there are also expectations. Everyone needs you to work yourself to the bone, have enough flashy goods to pretend they bring you any semblance of joy.

  
  
But here there is genuine laughter, there is hard work followed by the promise that when you return home, you aren’t forced to be any certain way. Over the months Moonbin has seen the way Minhyuk laughs with Jinwoo, leans in to kiss his mother on the cheek, how he dances with the neighborhood children when they walk by his home and call out for him. The smile he wears in all of these moments is genuine, something Moonbin hasn’t felt on his own in far too long.

  
  
Moonbin sits up then, pulling Minhyuk into his lap. He kisses the spot just below the nape of his neck, letting the worn sheets pool around their bodies. A promise that Moonbin can’t quite find the words for yet.

_3.4.2145_

“Aren’t you tired of being up here?”

  
  
Moonbin is surprised at how strongly the words come out, and Myungjun stops fixing his hair in the mirror to look at him.

  
  
“Of course I am,” he replies easily, letting his arms fall to the side. A glowing icy blue bracelet hugs his wrist, sparkling in the light of the apartment every so often. “Jinwoo said it wouldn’t be hard to move.”

  
  
Moonbin looks at him incredulously, feeling himself deflate at the thought. His next words are more of a statement than a question, ringing out hollow in the bedroom. “You’re going to leave.”

And Myungjun walks to him then, gripping both hands carefully. Nearly a year has gone by since they first met the men in the darkened city, and it shows in Myungjun’s face. His gaze is kinder now, he smiles more, the crease between his brows have evened out. Love has turned him into the best version of himself, and that much is true when he reaches up to cup Moonbin’s face with careful delicacy.

“I want something better,” he whispers, thumb brushing over Moonbin’s cheek. “I want love.”

I know what you mean, Moonbin wants to say. But I know what it’s like to be afraid, too.

  
  
  
  
  
  
_5.17.2145_

Moonbin looks at the way the light catches Minhyuk’s eyes, sitting across from each other at a restaurant Minhyuk has dragged him to far too many times. His eyes shine silver, purple, blue, red, blending in with the neon lights that change on the other side of the window pane he’s leaning against. It’s a long night after helping Myungjun move, carrying boxes into the tiny apartment until Myungjun ushered them away, Jinwoo leaning against the doorframe and waving to them before leaning down to press a careful kiss to Myungjun’s shoulder.

The visual is nice, it stays in Moonbin’s mind until they sit down for dinner. He realizes he wants that for himself, too. For Minhyuk.

  
  
“Hey, you,” Moonbin says, smiles when Minhyuk looks his way and reaches across the table to hold his hand. He is beautiful and everything Moonbin wants to fight for, and his touch is comfortingly warm.

  
  
“Hey yourself,” Minhyuk answers, and Moonbin picks his hand up to place a kiss on the soft skin above his knuckles. His hands smell like herbs and a subtle sweetness, the same cigarette they shared so long ago. It feels like a lifetime, it feels like a second.

Outside, the sky looms over in inky darkness.

“Let me take you,” Moonbin replies, his voice quiet. Minhyuk looks at him curiously, lights still shining in his gaze. Silver, purple, blue, red. Moonbin swallows down his nerves, presents his idea. 

“To see the stars.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


_5.21.2145_

They had to move in darkness, packing into a tiny taxi in the comfort of night. Minhyuk isn’t built for the upper city, his eyes cannot handle the sunshine that Moonbin so takes for granted. He worried himself for days about the trip, but Minhyuk looks at him with such fondness that any nerves melt away when he leans in to kiss him in the backseat.

  
  
Citrus, sweet, Minhyuk.

Moonbin feels like a child when he covers Minhyuk’s eyes with his hand, smiling when he laughs and leans into him. Let me surprise you with the big reveal, Moonbin says. I promise it’ll be worth it.

And their walk into the apartment complex is a clumsy one, Minhyuk practically walking into Moonbin when they climb into the elevator. The shuddering jolt only tumbles him into Moonbin, who laughs and kisses the top of his head. Everything is leading up to this, and he steels his nerves.

  
  
And then Minhyuk reaches down, feels for a moment, grabs his hand. The gentle lacing of their fingers is all the reassurance that it will be okay. They will be okay.

The elevator beeps quietly, lets them out onto the correct floor. Moonbin fumbles for his keys, nearly drops them before he finally gets them into the door. He whispers to Minhyuk to close his eyes, reaches down to carry him bridal-style into his bedroom. 

Minhyuk’s breath is warm on his neck in the late May night, as if it say I’m here, I’m here, I’m alive.

When Moonbin sets him down it is with shaky arms, and when Moonbin tells him to open his eyes it’s with a trembling voice. And then he _does_ , and— 

“Oh,” Minhyuk says, his voice as soft as the sweetest song Moonbin has ever heard. And he is laughing and there are tears in the corners of his eyes and his _eyes_ , they glow the brightest Moonbin has ever seen them. 

“Here they are,” Moonbin says simply. He takes Minhyuk’s hand in his own, gentle, sweet. “I told you I’d take you.”

  
  
“You gave me the stars,” Minhyuk whispers, lips parted in shock and awe. And then he breaks out into the most breathtaking smile, laughter bubbling into his throat again. And then he pulls Moonbin into a kiss so soft that he wonders if it touched his lips at all.

And how wonderful it is, Moonbin thinks, to give the universe to someone you love so fiercely. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!
> 
> [main twit](https://twitter.com/truantseeker) / [fic twit](https://twitter.com/pinkwinwin) / [cc](curiouscat.me/pinkwinwin)


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